Sa-ba-dee: intro to Laos

Just as I was starting to understand a few tones in Thai and thinking in baht, I put myself through another long and dirty 3 day transport and now find myself in Luang Prabang, Laos.

I always learn two phrases when going to a new country, so it is now sa-ba-dee instead of su-wa-ti-ca (hello) and kawp-jai instead of korp-kun-ca (thank you). (Though I think learning how to say 'toilet' and 'no meat' would be good to learn as well). It is now 8,550 Kip instead of 30 baht to the dollar (though Laos uses the US dollar, baht AND Kip... Sometimes all three in one transaction) and we are back to walking and driving on the right side of the road. The town here is a sheer mix of east and west (literally temples next to colonial looking houses with shutters) because the French occupied Laos from the 18th century till 1953. I have seen more monks here walking around in saffron robes than anywhere else, but also more western cafes and decor. There are baquettes being sold at almost every store (bread, in general, has been near impossible to find on my trip so far) right along with noodles and river weed. This town contradicts itself at almost every corner, but it is absolutely gorgeous for that.

The trip here, though, was long... Long is actually an understatement. It was a three day treck that consisted of taxis, buses, ferries and slow boats. A lot of sitting, a lot of waiting, and a lot of bum-falling-asleep-ness. To sum it up: a mototaxi from soppong, bus (that showed up two hours late) to Pai and then Chiangmai, seperate bus (this one with air con and tinted windows!!) to Chiang Rai, night in Chiang Rai, bus to Chiang Kong, walk over/get picked up by a Brit couple to the border, officially depart Thailand, ferry across the Mekong to Laos, apply for visa (and sure hope you get one cuz they just departed your ass from Thailand), taxi to another pier, jump on the slow boat, slow boat for 6 hours (yea right), spend the night in Pak Beng, get on the slow boat the next day and finally arrive in Luang Prabang that evening. Whew, I get anxious just thinking about that all again.

I don't want to go through all the dirty details but, man o man, the slow boat was a treat- one of those events where you just have to keep thinking to yourself: 'well, at least it will be a good story'. The boat, to start out with, is about an hour late from the Laos/Thailand border. Instead of two boats today, there is only going to be one... Fine. It is overcrowded by the time we get on but we are sat in the middle of the aisle in plastic chairs. Okay, whatever. We finally take off, get a good breeze going, eat some food for the first time that day, and talk to our British couple friends that picked us up. The view is great and we are in good company so we will be just fine. About an hour or two into our cruise, though, the engine slows down... The boat does a three sixty so we are now parallel to an island and the engine shuts off completely. Our drivers tie up and say nothing to the 100+ people around them about what is going on. Most everyone on board is a seasoned traveler though and most of us have been warned of the slow boats and their 'slowness', so we wait. At least an hour goes by of waiting and sweating and wondering what the hell is going on. Finally, another slow boat pulls up to us and people grab their stuff as quickly as possible and jump ship. This new boat, however, is only about 3/4 the size as the last- people are standing and sitting on the railings and on bags and even on the roof. We were huddled in the back corner on the floor- not the best place but certainly not the worst either.

Our new boat pulls away as everyone gets situated and we are off again. The rest of the ride went smooth- great sunset, beautiful views and plenty of conversations with the people you are practically sitting on top of. Arrive to Pak Beng with a big flashlight (held by an employee on the roof) showing the way similar to Rudolph and Santa's sleigh. Grab our bags and John, the Brit couple, and I agree on a room offered by the first person who says a good price. Walk up the hill, settle in, eat our dinner, have our shot of free Lao whiskey and head for bed before the electricity in the whole town shuts off at ten.

Up early in the morning, eat some oatmeal, buy a sandwhich for lunch and head to the boat early to make sure we get good seats. There are two boats today so much more room and we have the cushioned seats with lots of leg room so we are psyched. The boat pulls out only 3 mins late and we are just elatied. But then the breeze hits. The morning fog that we thought would burn off never did. It was cold and windy and drizzly and we are dressed for hot and muggy weather. I have shorts and a long t and a rain jacket and two sarongs and John finds us a blanket and we bear the elements for a solid 8 hours.

Chilled to the bone, we finally make it. Hop around for a bit trying to find a good guesthouse and settle on one that's just a short walk into town and grab rooms. Check out the night market with Alex, Lizzy and John and grab a plate at the vegeterian buffet (loads of good veggies and noodles and rice for about 65 cents), and head to meet some people from the boat at a bar called Hive. This bar is what I would describe as 'swanky' and has drinks that are 10-15x the price of our dinner. I do not feel like I am Laos, rather, it feels more like Miami or London. The girls from the boat were ordering 5 drinks at a time to beat happy hour while I sat with my one small cocktail that was loaded with the local lao whiskey. Called it a night pretty quickly after seeing I could not afford to be on the same level as these girls.

The next day is completely a touristy one. John and I wandered around checking out temples and museums and snapping pictures of the views. My goal of the day: get oriented with the town, gain my barings, understand the kip a bit more before buying too much, and seek out some good places to eat; and I think we covered all of those objectives fairly well. A good portion of Luang Prabang is actually shaped as a pinnensula from the curvature of the Mekong and is pretty difficult to get lost in as the streets just buttonhook around one another. With the mix of east and west contrast against the huge, muddy river, this place is just beautiful.

We stumbled across a new UXO museum that was just opened last year and learned some pretty heartbreaking facts about the US and the damage our weapons are still inflicting today. Being an American, I felt terrible for not knowing the history behind the US's bombings here and being ignorant to what we did in the past and also for how much it is still affecting countries like these today. Lao is actually named the 'worlds most heavily bombed nation'. During the indo-china war period, more than 2 million tons of bombs (over 260 million actual bombs) were dropped here- 30% of those never detonating when they were first dropped. Thus meaning that there are still (an estimated) 70+ million bombs that are just hanging out in Laos that still have the potential to explode. Sad to say that the majority of those dropped had Americas name on them and, to matters even worse, America still uses these same weapons today that are banished from so many other countries. Needless to say, I felt like an asshole writing down 'USA' next to my name in the guestbook.

The rest of the day was spent exploring and eating out with Alex and Lizzy, a quick wander around town and then home. John left early yesterday and the Brits went to go see the waterfall (which I opted out of after seeing it was cold and overcast again). Checked into my new backpackers place just around the corner and, as I was checking in, ran into Joel, one of the kiwi kids I met in Pai. We walked around for a bit, found a nice place for a fruity drink and went our seperate ways. Temple exploring for Joel, reading and journaling for me. I was much needing some alone time again and luckily got a few hours to myself around this little quaint town.

Dinner with Joel, 3 Dutch kids and a French guy. Veg buffet followed by a large BeerLao at a Belgium bar and a long game of le pletunk (essentially bacci ball) which the kiwi and I were pretty terrible at. Bed before the rain started.

A bit warmer today but still overcast... Deciding where to head next but for now, boat across the Mekong to a village and cave on the other side. Hoping for some sunny weather soon!